Sarah Waters meets The Girls in this haunting, wickedly perceptive debut set in an all-girls school and addressing the timeless question: Who has authority over a woman's body?

Haunting, intense and irresistible, The Illness Lesson is an extraordinary debut about women's minds and bodies, and the time-honoured tradition of doubting both.

In 1871, at an elite new school designed to shape the minds of young women, the inscrutable and defiant Eliza Bell has been overwhelmed by an inexplicable illness.Before long, the other girls start to succumb to its peculiar symptoms - rashes, tics,night wanderings and fits.

As the disease takes hold, teacher Caroline Hood tries desperately to hide her own symptoms, butthe powers-that-be turn to a sinister physician with dubious methods.

Does Caroline have the courage to confront the all-male, all-knowing authorities of her worldand protect the young women in her care?